DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN FRANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 19, 13 May 1876, Page 2

DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN FRANCE.

The following particulars of the shocking explosion of foe damp, resulting in t-lio death of 200 persons, near St. Etienne are given by the "Daily Telegraph":—"At the time when the explosion took place there were 216 persons in the pit, t' e entire day-shift, and nobody had any indication of the presence of the gas until the fatal moment. Immediately after the accident aid was procured, but those who descended into the pit found nothing but the bodies of men, boys, and horses strewed about, either dead or dangerously wounded. A short time after the noise of the explosion was heard, the at the mouth of the pit was most distressing. The corpses of those killed, r.nd the bodies of dying and wounded men were brought up in batches, while crowds of relations of the unfortunate victims came to search for their friends. All the authorities of t'le districts, military, civil, and religious, were promptly on the spot, and at the pit's mouth a priest stood, with bare he?./ 1 , praying with the wounded, and administering the last rices to the dying. The sad work of recovering the bodies was puisued during the whole night. The tight which presented itself in trie pit is described as harrowing. Groups of poor workmen were foand in corners, their bodies quite carbonised, and in some places the bodies were found attached in one mass." ** The correspondent of the " Daily Telegraph, "-under date St. Efc.enne, February 7th, also gives the following, additional particulars of the dreadful aceiuent" As yet only one-tliird of - t:ie bodies buried in the coal-pit..have "been, brought out. _ThiS morning, eleven o'clock, seventy cars - Sol®

mothers being obliged, through lack JjjSL assistance, to carry their own chiltlr t jsß|" This ghastly funeral cortege was coiiSl ducted by the doctor and engineers of till®,, mine, the members of the Council ; General d'Abzac, representiJ®L. the Marshal; M. de Meaux, the MinistSg' of Commerce; the Procureur-Gene'ral Lyons ; Bishop Thibandier, and a liuinlJSjs. of officials, magistrates, and notabilities. The little church known ;ilif the Eglise du Soled was completely by the bod : .es, and the persons p SET, had to stand between the improrisjfs, coflins. The scene at the cemetery itJSK heartrending. Five hundred relativsjHL composed chiefly of women and childrafflßj wept aloud, and threw themselves on tusj| bodies of their fathers, husbands, brotlieivj® and sons. The snow, driven by a bittcr]H» cold wind, was falling heavily, and it sooflK covered tnis scene of anguish and with a white shroud. Everybody ptw§|&' sent was deeply' impressed, and tlJj§Bl thought that twice the number of bodiJHL lyi*;g before them had yet to be brouglSt to the mouth of the fatal pit, made tillS sight still more distressing. Energgtiajaj efforts are at this moment being nuclelJgft clear away the rubbish thrown up bytljflft explosion, and, to put out the lire whiwjK is still burning, moist earth is being lji|| down into the mine. The number of \igj|| tims is even greater than was at first stateqjgft Two'hundred and sixteen men were killiJjjg but the bodies which have been recovered® are in many cases so much disfigured tlisfflS they cannot be recognised. Day and niglffl® crowds of poor women and children are ij§| be seen at the pit "waiting anxiously to rajal ceive the corpses of those who were oihlh their breadwinners. Priests move aboJlj| advising resignation, and promising stantial assistance from the subscribers rii®B sympathisers at Lyons. All clatses of tyHj population are greatly moved by thi|g terrible catastrophe, and large sums liari® already been collected for the relief of tigM widows and orphans. Marshal MiicMalioiflj has subscribed 5,000 francs ; Matlanitffl MacMahon kai given 500 -francs; lUflj Buffet has sent 3,000 francs to the Prefecifa of the Loire to be distributed among tfe|g survivors ; and M. Halanzier, director oij|g the Opera, has announced that he a special performance for the benefit (ilia the distressed families. jm